Shearing machines for strip products particularly to those used in the corrugated board industry



Jan. 28, 1969 R. GIRAUD 3,424,041

SHEARING MACHINES FOR STRIP PRODUCTS, PARTICULARLY TO THOSE USED IN THE CORRUGATED BOARD INDUSTRY Filed Aug. 19, 1965 .Sheet of 2 l9 W I l8 [6 ;8 an Ill l I I I I; 1'. i i 2a 5 1 I I z: I i 5 i I j:

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' INVENTOR. a a 2 W 400/6 /PR \j wflPak/fl ud Jan. 28. 1969 R. L. GIRAUD 3,424,041

SHEARING MACHINES FOR STRIP PRODUCTS, PARTICULARLY TO THOSE USED IN THE CORRUGATED BOARD INDUSTRY Filed Aug. 19, 1965 Sheet .2 of 2 FIG-4 J 4, Q I

Has

INVENTOR.

United States Patent US. or. 83-76 Int. Cl. use /20,- B23d 25/16, 25/02 5 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A power-driven cutting machine, particularly for cutting sheets ifrom corrugated board in continuous operation containing devices on the machine for rapidly changing the cut-off length without stopping the machine and with a minimum of waste of product.

The present invention relates to improvements in cutting machines for strip products, particularly of those used in the corrugated board industry.

As it is known, such machines permit to obtain cutoffs of varied lengths; but for changing from one length of cut to another, they require the stopping both of the cutting machine and of the strip product to be cut during the time of adjustment. Particularly if such a product consists of corrugated board fed from a drying device, such stopping is extremely detrimental to the quality of the cardboard which becomes overheated by being kept on the drying tables without moving.

My present invention aims at remedying this drawback by providing means permitting to change from one length of cut to another with little or no waste, without stopping the feed of the product to be cut.

My invention mainly consists in continuously feeding the strip product to be cut into the cutting machine and in providing the mechanism for modifying the frequency of cutting within minimum of time, corresponding to a minimum displacement of the product to be cut.

My invention consists in further arrangements hereinafter mentioned and used together with the above-mentioned main arrangement.

My invention particularly covers certain modes of application and realization of the said arrangements and pertains also to the cutting machines provided with such improvements.

By way of example and for a better understanding of my invention, a specification of particular modes of carrying out the invention is set forth hereinafter, the same being illustrated in a schematic and non-restrictive manner in the accompanying drawing. In said drawing:

FIGURE 1 shows a partial section, through .a vertical longitudinal plane, of a cutting machine, improved according to the invention;

FIGURE 2 shows a partial plane view of this cutting machine;

FIGURE 3 shows a partial plane view of a modification of the said cutting machine, according to the invention;

FIGURE 4 represents a diagram giving the peripheral speed of the cutter of the cutting machine, as a function of time; and

FIGURE 5 shows a diagram of a control system applicable to the said cutting machine.

The realization of a cutting machine for strip products according to my invention, is as follows.

The cutting machine is intended to cut a strip of corrugated board 1 continuously fed into the machine. To

3,424,041 Patented Jan. 28,, 1969 that extent, the strip 1 passes between rollers 2, 3 driven at a constant speed, which can be adjusted by a shaft 4 through 'an appropriate gear device 5. The shaft 4 is driven by a motor which is not shown on the drawing.

The strip 1 is cut transversally into sheets having the desired length at each revolution of the cutting rollers 7, 6 connected to each other by gears 8, 9. The cut sheets 10, 11 are forwarded from the machine by means of a belt conveyor 12.

In order to obtain sheets of different lengths, the cut ting rollers 6, 7 are driven by the shaft 4 by means of a gear device 13 for a continuous variation of the speed of the rotation of the shaft 14. A pinion 15, integral with shaft 14, drives a gear 16 connected with a mechanism, comprising a slide 17 with an adjustable center of rotation, the said slide actuating a crank 18 driving the cutting roller 6. The purpose of this mechanism is to impart to the cutters of rollers 6 and 7 at the instant of the cutting the peripheral speed equal to the advancing speed V of the product to be cut. The position of the center of rotation of the slide 17 determined by the position of the part 19 depends on the ratio between the average peripheral speed of the cutters and the advancing speed of the product to be cut, in other words, of the speed ratio of shafts 14 and 4 with respect to the speed varying device 13. The ratio of speed of the device 13 is modified by means of the motor 20. By the shaft 21 and the screw 22, the motor 20 shifts the part 19, built as a nut on the screw 22, for obtaining the position of the center of the slide 17 corresponding to a determined ratio of speed of the varying speed device 13.

According to the invention the mechanism which has just been described, is completed by a clutch 23 for engaging or disengaging of the shaft 14 of the device 13, and by a second speed varying device 24 for continuous variation, driven by the shaft 4, provided for driving by means of a clutch 25 a shaft 26 connected with the cutting rollers by a mechanism 27 identical with the mechanism existing between the shaft 14 and the said rollers. The ratio of speed, given by the speed varying device 24, is controlled by the motor 28.

The clutch 23 being engaged and the clutch 25 being disengaged, the cutting machine operates with the lengths of cut-off, as set by the speed varying device 13. During this phase of operation, the speed varying device 24 and the position of the center of the slide of the mechanism 27 can be adjusted, by means of the motor 28, to another length of cut-off. The change-over to the other length of cut-off is effected by disengaging the clutch 23 and by engaging the clutch 25 to modify the frequency of the cutting. This change-over which only requires the control of the clutches, can be effected in a minimum of time corresponding only to a slight advancing of the product to be cut.

As a modification a single mechanism with a slide 17 may be used if a swift shifting of the part 19 is provided at the time of the change-over from one length of cut-off to another by the operation of the clutches 23, 25. To that extent the part 19 is rendered integral with the cylinder 29 of a fluid power motor actuated by fluid under pressure and with a double action, the piston 30 of which is fixed; the cylinder 29 is fed, controlled by the changeover valve 31, by either one of the distributors 32, 33. The respective slide valves 34, 35 of distributors 32, 3-3 are operated by screw and nut systems controlled by the motors 20, 28 adjusting the speed varying devices 13 and 24. The entire device actuated by fluid under pressure is fed by the pipe 36; the return pipes are not shown.

The fluid power motor, its distributors and its slide valves are arranged so that the cylinder 29 may put the part 19 into the position corresponding to the adjustment of the device 13 or 24 engaged in 23 or 2 5; the change-over valve 31 actuates the distributor 32 or 33 corresponding to the engaged clutch 23 or 25.

As another modification a single speed-varying device with swift variation may be substituted for the two speed varying devices previously provided.

The graph of the FIGURE 4 represents in the line 37, as a function of time t, the peripheral speed of the cutter of the roller 6 for two different lengths of a cut-off, one, which is short, corresponding to the average speed V the other, which is long, corresponding to the average speed V the strip to be cut moving in both cases at the speed V The change-over from one length to the other is effected in 38.

The length of cut-olf provided by the cutting rollers 6, 7 might also be subjected to a control, which depends on the actual advancing of the strip 1 which is to be cut in the machine. To that extent the said advancing is measured by impulse sender 39, for example of electric impulses, actuated by a wheel 40 driven by the strip 1. Each impulse corresponds to a determined advancing of the strip 1: one millimeter, for instance. These impulses are recorded, between two consecutive cuttings of rollers 6, 7, by the counter 41, these rollers sending at each cutting an impulse to the said counter through the line 42. The impulses, which are thus recorded by the counter 41 and which correspond to the actual length of the sheets, which are cut, are compared by means of an appropriate computer 43, analog and/or digital, to the state of a register 44 adjusted beforehand to the length of cut-off to be obtained. When the number of impulses, recorded by the counter 41, is lower or higher than that which is fixed by the register 44, the device 43 accordingly controls the motor 20 of the speed-varying device 13 (or the motor 28 of the device 24) to suppress the difference noted and to obtain the desired length of cut-01f.

The cutting machine according to the invention may be provided with a program device determining a sequence of adjustments of the lengths of cut-01f and the change-over from one length of cut-off to another one after having performed a predetermined number of cuttings. This device will control the motors 20, 28, the clutches 23, 25, and the valve 31 as the case may be. If the machine is provided with the above mentioned control system, the program device will be able to feed the members of the lengths of cut-off to be made into the register 44.

It results from the foregoing that in applying the above methods, cutting machines for strip products can be obtained, said machines offering numerous advantages, among others: the possibility to change-over from one length of cut-off to another one without any stopping of the product to be cut, the maintaining of the qualities of the product which has been cut, the adjustments being facilitated by the invariability of the working principle.

Obviously the invention is not restricted to the methods of application and realization specifically described; it also embodies all the variations thereof.

What I claim is:

1. A cutting machine for strip product continuously fed into the machine comprising cutting rollers actuated by mechanisms provided with means permitting to modify the frequency of the cutting in a minimum of time corresponding to a very small displacement of the continuously moving product to be cut, two mechanisms having clutches alternately engaging either one or the other of said two mechanisms imparting to the cutters of the rollers at the time of the cutting a peripheral speed equal to the advancing speed of the strip product, each of the said mechanisms comprising a slide having an adjustable center of rotation for imparting a cyclically varying speed to said cutting rollers and a speed varying device for said cutting rollers the control of the speed ratio of which is connected with the control of the center of said slide, the alternate engaging of said mechanisms driving said cutting rollers being effected by the operation of one of said clutches.

2. A cutting machine for strip product according to claim 1, and provided with driving rollers operating at an adjustable constant speed for feeding of the product to be cut into the machine.

3. A cutting machine for strip product continuously fed into the machine comprising cutting rollers actuated by mechanisms provided with means permitting to modify the frequency of the cutting in a minimum of time corresponding to a very small displacement of the continuously moving product to be cut, and a mechanism driving said cutting rollers, said mechanism imparting upon the cutters of said rollers at the instant of the cutting a peripheral speed equal to the advancing speed of the strip product, said mechanism comprising a slide having an adjustable center of rotation for imparting a cyclically varying speed to said cutting rollers, clutches on said mechanism, and two-speed varying devices, said clutches engaging alternately one or the other of said speed-varying devices with said mechanism, said mechanism having means, providing a swift shifting of said center of said slide at the instant of the change-over from one length of cut-off to another by disengaging one of said clutches of said mechanism and engaging the other.

4. A cutting machine for strip product according to claim 3, wherein said means providing a swift shifting of said center of said slide at the time of the change-over from one length of cutting to another, comprises a double acting fiuid power motor operated by a fluid under pressure, said fluid power motor having two distributors, said distributors having slide valves, said slide valves connected with the control of each of said two speed-varying devices, either one or the other of said distributors receiving fluid under pressure by a change-over valve.

5. A cutting machine for strip product according to claim 1, and comprising a program device determining a sequence of adjustments of the length of cut-off and the change-over from one cut-off to the other after the carrying out of a predetermined number of cuttings, the said device acting on the means permitting to modify the frequency of the cutting.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,262,913 11/1941 Behrens 83324 2,177,465 10/1939 Sieg 83299 3,175,442 3/1965 Drenning et a1 83211 X 3,176,557 4/1965 Drenning et al. 83299 X 3,232,157 2/1966 McMath et al. 87-76 ANDREW R. JUVHASZ, Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 83287, 311, 324 

